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Charles Barkley, David Robinson, and Karl Malone Talk Dream Team on The Dan Patrick Show

Charles Barkley**On the 1992 Olympic team vs. the 1996 Olympic team
People forget, I played on the second Dream Team too, and the second Dream Team really sucked…Guys* complaining about playing time, who was starting on the second Dream Team. I can honestly tell you this: On that first Dream Team, we never had any of that. I’m playing with the greatest team ever assembled, everybody got along well. Did we try to kill each other in practice? Of course we did. But when we went back to the hotel, everybody got along well, everybody respected each other, and it was really cool.

When I played the second time in Atlanta, man, guys* were arguing with Lenny Wilkens, talking about who should be starting. ’92 was the greatest thing ever as far as camaraderie and everybody getting along. And then ’96, I was like, you guys are kidding me. I played with the greatest team ever, and you guys ain’t that good, and y’all complaining about who’s starting and who’s getting playing time? You gotta be kidding me.

**Dan Patrick: We got David Robinson next hour, Karl Malone coming up a little bit later on.
CB: Tell the Postman that I said hello.
DP: Why don’t you tell him.
CB: You didn’t catch that, did you?
DP: I know, I got it.
CB: I always give him a hard time. I don’t call him the Mailman. I call him the Postman.
DP: Why?
CB: Just to mess with him. I can’t have fun with him?
DP: Is he a better power forward than you?
CB: No. I’m the second greatest power forward ever, after Tim Duncan. I got great respect for Karl Malone. He was a better scorer than me but I was a better rebounder and a better passer.
DP: Is he better looking?
CB: Well, he fell for the white trick.
DP: What’s that?
CB: He thought that Rogaine worked. And I tried to tell him, “If God don’t want you to have hair, you’re not going to have hair.” Remember when he did the Rogaine commercial? I said, “Karl, if God don’t want you to have hair…” I expect a white guy to think he can just put something in a bottle and grow hair, but I don’t think a brother can fall for no trick like that. But Karl is one of my really, really good friends, but you can’t fall for that.

David Robinson**Did Clyde Drexler bring two right shoes with him to practice one day, and Barkley was unmerciful with him?Everybody was unmerciful with him. I don’t know how you miss that in the morning, but he came into practice and he was lacing up his shoes on his left foot, that was his right shoe, and [Charles and] I was sitting there looking at him thinking, that doesn’t look right. Something’s going on. (starts laughing) I said, “How do you even put a shoe on the wrong foot?” He had no good excuse for that, so we rode him all week.

**Was it hard to put personal grudges aside?
It was easier than I expected. When you compete against guys day in and day out, you don’t like them. I really didn’t like the Utah guys, L.A. and Chicago. But seeing the competitiveness and professionalism, it gave us a love and respect for each other that startled all of us, I think.

**Some unlikely friendships developed, like Patrick Ewing and Larry Bird. Who did you bond with?
I think probably John Stockton, and actually Karl Malone. I really did not like them. You saw our competitions over the years. They’re grabbing and holding and doing all kinds of stuff. So I did not think I would become such great friends with both those guys. (Spurs Nation, H/T C)

Karl Malone** Let me just get the first order of business out of the way here. Why did you have the third best power forward on before the first one? I guess that’s the order of business we need to get squared away so we can have a great show.

**On Charles Barkley
I have great respect for Charles. We go way back. I remember calling Charles, Dan, when I was deciding whether I was coming out of Louisiana Tech, going hardship, and I talked to Charles ’cause I met him during the [1984] Olympic trials. So we been great buddies ever since.

**Continuing David Robinson’s Clyde Drexler story…
He tried to play it off. He really tried to play it off…and Clyde, who’s been really smooth about it, couldn’t play at all. He just walked around in circles.

**DP: If you were starting a team with everybody on the Dream Team, who would you start with?
KM: Come on Dan, really? You think you gonna get me with that? I would have to start my team with John Stockton. Dan, I like how you kinda slid that in.* You can’t get me with it. You can’t get me with that.* UDQM
DP: Karl, I’m taking Stockton out of the question.
KM: You tried to set me up. You did not say you taking Stockton…
DP: I tried to take a charge. Stockton’s out of it. Now you gotta pick.
KM: I would have to say, I would start it with Scottie Pippen. I would have to start my team with Scottie Pippen.
DP: Are you crazy?
KM: No, I’m Karl, and I’m not crazy.
DP: …I didn’t take Michael Jordan off the team there. I took Stockton off. So you don’t want Michael or Magic? You want Scottie?
KM: …OK, this is why I would take Scottie. Do you remember that time Michael retired, the second, third time, whatever. I watched Scottie Pippen, when the Chicago Bulls wasn’t really good, and Scottie led that team in every statistical category. And I just remember that, and plus, he’s a guy that could care less about scoring. He wanna stop the best player on the other team. [Karl’s second pick was Magic, leading Dan Patrick to conclude that he just wants to score.]